Pipe-line coupling for railway-cars.



W. H. WYVILL a. J. A. TALBOTT. PIPE LINE COUPLING ron RAILWAY was.

' .LPPLIOATIO] TILED I! 13, 1913.

Patented Apr. 21, 19m

lm/Manon W. H. WY VILL & J. A. TALBOT'T. PIPB LINE COUPLING FOR RAILWAY was.

APPLICATION FILED IAY 13, 1913.

Patented Apr.-21, 1914.

2 SHEETS-$113111 2.

, M NM imllH JNZtTED STATES reissue? onFIon 5 WILLIAM H. wr'vxnn AND JOHN a TALBGTT, on UPPER MARLBORG, MARYLAND.

PIPE-LINE COUPLING FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. e1, 1914.;

Application filed May 13,1913. Serial No. rams-5. f

To (Z Z whom itmag coin-(2m. a Be it known that we, WILHAM H. VVYVILL and JOHN A. TALBOTT, citizens of the United. States, residing at Upper Marlboro, in the county of Prince Georges and State of Mary land, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pipe-Line Couplings for llailwayrCars; arid we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention su h as wi l enable others skilled inthe art to which i appertains to make and use the Our invention relates to pipe line couplings for railway cars, but has reference, inore particularly stated, to improved mechanisrn for automatically and instantaneously connecting and disconnecting adjacent ends 1 the steam heat, air brakes and. signal lines iila'ay cars during: the car co'u 'iling and car uncoupling operations.

.lt ha for a further object accomplishment the above stated results by mechanism ich peculiarly simple and. durable in construction, easily n'iaintained in service,

not likely to become deranged. /Vith the foregoing and other objects in view the invention will be hereinafter particularly described and pointed out in the claims following. i

in 'the accompanying drawings which form part of this application for Letters Patent, and whereon corresponding reference characters indicate like parts in th ,ev-

li 'i gurcfl is a top plan View of mproved pipe line couplings and inter i equipment 111' "(rated by ragmentary 1. two cars in coupled lnunwith pinion in side elevation a..so coupled. a top plan i'iew of our improvein coupled relation. Fig. 4- "5 a longi-' tndinal vertical section upon a reh :ively en.- larged scale, taken through lhe'ccnter of our improved pipe. coupling head and stem. Fig. 5 is a plan view of parts shown by Fig. 4-, with the coupler head partly in section.

l 6 amend view looking directly into the coupler head. F 1g. 7 1s a detailed. side ni i e 7 tion of coupler stem support, and, Fig. 8 is a vertical loi'igitudinal sectional View of the invention slightly modified to meet the 'ciguirenient oii'i'reigl'it car's.

Reference being had to the drawings and numerals thereon, 1 indicates transverse and iongitudinal sills of an ordinary oar frame, 2

car humper s, and 3 car couplers all of ordi: nary and well'known construct on. Boltet -to the t ansverse end sills lore depending brackets 4 within which the car'coupler m) stems reciprocate in the usual and Well understoocl manner, and from these in turn depend similar brackets 5 provided at their lower extremities with transverse rollers 6 upon which latter rest the stems 7 of our im 55 proved pipe couplings as best shown by Figs. 2 and 7 of the drawings.

in view of the fact that we make no claim whatever to the form of ear couplings 3' than,

grai'ninatically' shown in Fig, 2, the refer- 7 once. hereinafter made to conplings'will he miderstood to mean our improved pipe-line couplings; and since all coacting or-interconnecting couplings shown are exact duplicates be sniiicient.

The coupler stem '3' aforesaid is, by prefer ence', of rectangular .iorm in cross section and provided with a somewhat enlarged head 8, from one side-of which latter progo jects a pilot finger S) of substantially wedge shape andwithmit :iI'lgl0F,\Vl1ll8 the opposite side of said enlarged head 8 is perforated. as at l0 to receivc at times, the corresponding pilot finger of a coacting coupler :head.

Seated in the mouth of said coupler head is a suitable air and steam-tight packing 11 of relatively thick. rubber, rubber and fabric, or other yielding composition, which, t-o-- gether with the major portion of the coupler stem 7 nemorated lay ii'idcpendent and sup an adjacent coupler; and between the... ducts the packing ll crossed horizontzmy by surface grooves 20, .20 (Figs 5 and 6) by means of which any fluid which may pcssibly escape from one or the other in said ducts at theinstantof coupling may finch-10;.

vent to the outside atmosphere rather'than communicate with an adjacent duct. Near their inner ends said fluid ducts 12, 13 and 14 are provided Withoutlets 2-1, 22 and 23 to which are coupled flexible connections 1 24, 25 and 26, respectively; while the upwardly projecting end or stem of controlling adetailed description of one only will 5 we ducts alerevalve is equipped with an angular oper 1? struction, arranged and adapted to recipro cate in a cross timber or other bearing 32 between which and the body of said stem. is inter osed a relatively 'stifi reaction spring 33 w ich constantly exerts-itself to project 15 the entire coupler. This tail-bolt is surrounded by said Spring and provided with a nut or nuts 34 to limit advance movement of the e'ntire coupler In practising our invention it will be understood that each car isequipped with a. coupler, such as hereinbefore described, at both ends as indicated by Fig. 1, said couplers being exact duplicates; and each car, moreover; being equipped with the usual brake cylinder 35, auxiliary air reservoir 36, and steam, air, and signal pipes 37, 38 and 39, these latter communicating directly with the'before-mentioned flexible connections 24-, 25 and 26 respectively. And in addition it 30 willbe noticed by reference to Fig. 1 that air pipe'38'is provided with an auxiliary valve 40 near each end for purposes which will later appear.

The operation of our invention is substan- 35 tially as follows: Prior to the coupling open ation our improved couplers normally pro ject several inches beyond the ordinary car coupler 5, being yieldingly retained in this projected. position by action of spring 33; fwhe'n now two cars arebrought together as shownby Fig. 2 the entire couplers are re- ..cipr'ocated longitudinally, the said springs 33 compressed, the two coupler heads brought i into exact alinementby cooperation of their pilot fingers 9 and perforations 10, respectively, pac'kings 11,11, are forced into close .contact, and valve 15 opened automatically. The uncoupled position of this valve 15 is .closed, as shown by Fig. 4, under which condition the valve handle 27 stands at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the coupler stem 7 as shown by Fig. 5. At'this time the relatively fixed operating rod 29 with its anti-friction roller 30 rests in the angular .55 slot28 of said handle, and obviously a longitudinal inward movement of the entire coupler, caused by contact with the coupler of an adjacent car, necessarily throws said handie 27 into the position indicated by dotted linesin Fig. that is to say, into the coupled position as shown by Figs. 2 and 3, valve 15, bein g thus opened automatically, when our coupler is in service, and as in- ;irrariably closed automatically when not in service. And, owing to the angular arrangeinent of slot 28 the COllPlGl'u may continue to more longitudinally after a' move ment suflicicnt to open valve 15 has been effected, a distance equal to the length of said slot, thereby insuring a close fluid-tight joint between the abutting faces of two packing glands 11 when the coupling is completed, It will be further noted that-our couplings are automatically connected as well as autolna tically cont-rolled; their location being in the longitudinal center of the car frame they practically register when two such couplings are brought together, but allowing for some slight variance even'in standard cars, it will be seen that the shape 30 and configuration of the pilot lingers J and perforations 1O cooperate to insure complete registration of interconnecting couplers. And, moreover, the laterally flaring entrance or mouth 19 of each duct 12, 13 and 14 contributes to their registration with corresponding ducts of an abutting coupler, thus renderingan exactness of registration unnecessary. Curves in a roadbed are provided for by the yielding character of packings 11, and by, the further fact that ducts 12, 13 and 14 are arranged in the same vcrtical-plane at the center lineof curvature, the barepossibility of leakage from one of said ducts to another beingiguarded against.. by

interposed transverse grooves or gutters 20,

20, by agency whereof any such leakage or overpressure would find vent to the atmosphere.

By reference to Fig. l of the drawings it will be observed that air pipe 38;.leads from brake cylinder 35 to ourimproved=couplers by way of diametrically opposite corners of the car frame at which points, within easy reach from the side of the car, are located 0 auxiliary valves 40. .Ordinarily these hand. alves 40 are open, but it is evident that they may be independently operated, and that when closed they relieve L'valvcs 15 of all pressure and safeguard them against leakn age during uncoupled periods.

Fig. 8 illustrates our invention as applied to freight cars wherein the central air duct 13, only, is employed with the neces ary coacting parts, its use and operation, however, 5 being substantially as hcreinbefore described, except that the packing 11. of a freigl'it coupler, when brought into coupling-. relation with a passenger car coupler, serves to close steam duct 12 and signal duct 14, up but registers with the central air brake duct 13- the same as if meeting with another freight car. The foregoing is a description of our invention in its best form of construction at 5 present known to us, but it should be understood that various changes of form, construction and .arrangement of parts may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without materially departing 1w from the spirit of our invention, and to such we lay claim the same as if specified, for example, coupler tail-bolts 31 may, if desired, be swiveled at or near their extremities, and the opposite end of coupler stems 7 may be supported in brackets 5, or the equivalent, of greater width thereby providing for a lateral movement, as with ordinary car couplers.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with a supporting frame, of a pipe line coupler for railway cars having independent fluid ducts arranged vertically tlierein, a controlling valve vertically disposed in said coupler and common to all of said duets, a lever PlOVldCd' with a slot closed at its ends and secured to said controlling valve and projecting in a horizontal plane to one side thereof, an o crating rod projecting from a relatively fixed support and arranged to operate in the slot of said lever, said rod being adapted to open the controlling valve each time the coupler is reciprocated in the act of coupling, and an angular continuation of said slot for permitting further reciprocation of the coupler while the controlling valve stands open.

2. In a train pipe coupling a pair of coupling members each of which comprises a stem having ducts arranged independently therein, a head provided on said stem, a controllingvalve positioned in said stem having openings therein adapted to register withsaid ducts, supportingframes at the outer ends of said stems having rollers mounted therein, means whereby said frames are suspended to hold said stems upon the rollers, interlocking means formed on said stems adapted to engage openings formed in the head of said stem whereby the coupling members are fastened -together, packing glands located in the end of'each head and. having openings registering with the ducts in the coupling members, and means includinga lever provided with a. slot closed at its ends and secured to said controlling valye and a relatively fixed operating rod engaging said slot for turning said valve and therein, ahead provided on said stem, a controlling valve positioned in said stem having openings therein adapted to register with said ducts, supporting frames at the outer ends of said stems having rollers mounted thereirn. means whereby said frames are suspended. to hold said stems uponthe 'r gllers;interlocking means formed' on said stems adapted to engage openings formed in the head of said stem whereby the coupling members are ,fastened together, packing glands located in the end of each head and having flared openings therein registering withthe ducts .in each. coupling member, a plurality of grooves provided in said packing glands between said openings, and means including a. lever provided with a slot closed at its ends and secured to said controlling valve and a relatively fixed op-- erating rod engaging said slot'for turning said valveand regulating the flow of fluid through said ducts when the couplinn members are brought together.

' In testimony whereof we aitix our signatures, in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM H. IVYVILL. JO .J A. TALBOTT.

llitnesses as to signature of IV. H. W.

LAVINIA M. B. SMITH, y R; ERNEST V. SMITH.

l-Vitnesses as to signature of J. A, T.s JAMEs H. OWEN,

GREY OWEN. 

